Blogs from South America

It is 2am, Sunday night, and we are in the Campo Grande bus terminal. The Lonely Planet guide said that this is supposed to be fairly seedy at night, with hookers & dodgy characters. But there is nothing that interesting to observe to help kill the next 3.5 hours till our bus. We arrived here at 11.45pm, after another fairly torturous day. Getting to the border crossing at 9am this morning high hopes were held of getting into Corumba, Brazil by 12. We got through the Bolivian side in 2 hours, but the Brazilian side took another 4 hours. Not sure if today was a special day, but there were a lot of Bolivians seeking visas today, the majority on their way to Sao Paulo. There was around 150 people to process, including 5 gringos, and ... read more

It is getting chilly here, folks. As all of you in the U.S. are finally celebrating spring, I’m going through the exact opposite here! I think I have mentioned it before, but I’ll mention it again. In Chile, it is incredibly expensive to have indoor heating like many of us (and definitely myself) are accustomed to in the U.S. So, for what I am used to, it isn’t really cold outside right now. It is about 50 or so during the day and a bit colder at night. But the difference is, my pattern for 20 years in the U.S.: Freezing, freezing, freezing (step inside), WARM. Here in Chile: Cold, cold, cold (step inside)…cold. As a result, I find most of my days are spent with a sweatshirt or light jacket on. And when I am ... read more

Kadangi Emili susirgo, suradau kitus zmones kurie nutarė mane priimti savo namuose. Iš ryto dar galvojau sulauksiu, kol grįš Emili iš ligoninės, bet nesulaukęs iškeliavau į naują vietą. Dragiška pora, amerikietis Antony ir rusė Polina. Abu turi laiko, tad dieną praleidom vaikštinėdami po miestą, po vietas kurių nespėjau apžiūrėti. Pirmiausia nueinam iki čia pat mieste esančių nedidelių griuvėsių, po to iki krikščioniško universiteto. Pareinam namo temstant. Polina paruošia vakarienę. Po vakarienės ateina keli jų draugai, irgi draugiška kompanija. Pažaidžiam dar nematytą kortų žaidimą, smagiai pabendraujam. Šiandien sugalvojam važiuoti iki netoliese esančio kito miestelio, kur turėtų būti gražus krioklys. Papusryčiavę keliaujam iki autobusų terminalo ir nuo čia vos valanda kelio iki miestelio Giron. Čia 6 km pėdinam į kalną ko... read more

Hello! Just wanted to give ya’ll a quick update. I arrived safely in Cusco, Peru! Travel was long- roughly 24 hours- and I spent the night awake in a Starbucks. Luckily, the Starbucks was full and I asked to sit at a table with a few girls, one who was wearing a Kappa Delta shirt! I asked her what school she went to and she said Cornell, and then I realized she was with Alma Sana! So I spent my overnight getting to know the girls I’ll be living with the next 3 months! There are going to be 6 of us living together. There will be a few other staff members coming in and out too, and one project manager who will be here with us the whole time. I’m the old fart of the ... read more

Chile has been a highlight so far, it was a shame our time frame only permitted us to spend a small amount of time there! Santiago itself, has a definite Melbourne feel. The food culture and cafés are great! The pubs have cheap meals, that you order for 2 and are full of the most amazing cooked meats and mushrooms etc. Santiago was the first place we have found a large supermarket with food just like home (I think we walked around it for about 1 hour) we found blue brie cheese, amazing red wine, and fresh veggies and with the hostels all having kitchens we could finally cook some cheap healthy meals up! Very exiting after 2 months of no kitchens, no access to fresh foods! The shopping mall in the centre is huge and ... read more

Firstly, thank you for all the contributions to my Free Belinda fund!! If someone could just let work know it'll be 2014 before I head back that would be super! Please don't stop the donations though, happy to never return to work, or maybe remote login?? Ok, ok, no more boring work talk! This last week has been busy as usual! When I last wrote I'd just arrived in La Paz ( world's highest airport, thank you for reminding me Rick) Highlights!! Survived the worlds most dangerous road on a push bike! 6 hours, a drop in altitude of 3,500 metres and 63kms with my hands squeezed on the brakes! No pedalling required! Found a few spells at the witches market which I know will totally change my life! Wish I had invested in ear plugs ... read more